by AC
Inflation is totally out of control! The US Government is completely gaslighting America about this problem.
CPI Report is a Carefully Crafted False Narrative Created to Tranquilize and Rob a Public Ravaged by the Real Inflation
www.encouragingangels.org/new-blog/2023/1/13/i4hkkszrtruxbq8jecixrl1j54hi0k
By Stan Szymanski
Yesterday the Labor Department reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of December 2022 came in at an annualized rate of 6.5%.
Financial pundits from all over the land lauded the ‘fact’ that inflation has been slowing for 6 straight months and actually fell 0.1% last month.
What a bunch of horse hockey. The number that you see regarding the CPI is a very manipulated number. Manipulated to manage the expectations of the public IMHO as a psychological operation on the country.
According to a report yesterday by CBS News (with reporting by The Associated Press):
…’Another positive sign for the Fed’s efforts to quell inflation is that Americans overall expect price increases to decline over the next few years. That is important because so-called “inflation expectations” can be self-fulfilling: If people expect prices to keep rising sharply, they will typically take steps, like demanding higher pay, that can perpetuate high inflation.’…
Of course the CBS article offered no support for their claim that Americans actually expect prices to decline over the next few years. This is a financial world example of propaganda. They just say it enough times through enough media outlets to influence the thinking of the populace. No matter how many attractive news anchors tell you this story it does not necessarily make it true.
How do we know if the numbers that the new world order news machine are close to reality or just a fairy tale? We need to look at a professional source of information that does not have an ax to grind about what the numbers are. A he or she that just reports what the numbers are.
One such source is Martin Armstrong at Armstrong Economics. In his recent blog post ‘Inflation & the Tricks of the Trade’
www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/inflation/inflation-the-tricks-of-the-trade/
Mr. Armstrong asserts:
…’Our inflation models came in at 32% for 2022. This does not include things like paper clips to bring down the entire average. This number is the basic core inflation that consists of food, energy, and transportation.’… and goes on to say …’The more things you throw in, the lower the inflation rate.’…’The more you include, the lower the inflation rate. The object is to reduce government spending which is indexed to the CPI.’…
Mr. Armstrong has hit upon why the powers that be bother to engage in managing expectations and delivering a report on inflation that has almost no basis in reality. IMHO, it is because the CPI that is reported has a direct bearing on the payout of government programs.
Government programs like: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, SSI, Unemployment (in 33 states) and the SNAP program (formerly known as ‘food stamps’). Just how far does the government go to achieve the …’The more things you throw in, the lower the inflation rate’…that Mr. Armstrong speaks of?
In found my homework, I found ‘Inflation-Indexing Elements in Federal Entitlement Programs‘.
…’BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) publishes the CPI-W (Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers) and the CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers), whose month-to-month fluctuations reflect changes in the prices faced by consumers. More specifically, the change in the indexes is the average change in the retail price of a market basket composed of more than 80,000 items purchased by consumers at outlets (e.g., grocery stores and gasoline stations) in 87 urban areas across the nation.’…
So while Martin Armstrong make sure that he doesn’t count things like paper clips to influence his measure of inflation, the BLS counts over 80,000 items in their calculation of inflation! Did you buy paper clips or scuba gear last month? Me either. Why count the things that people rarely, if ever buy?
In his calculation of inflation that impacts the average American according to Martin Armstrong, inflation was up 32% in 2022 consisting mainly of food, energy, and transportation. In the CPI that came out yesterday, the Labor Department told you a fable that the inflation you are currently experiencing is 6.5%. The Labor Department used the millstone of the measurement of over 80,000 items to squash the authenticity of Armstrongs’ 32% inflation down to a ‘palatable’ 6.5% year over year inflation rate to brainwash you into thinking that things are not as bad as a level headed person knows that it is if they just look at the facts.
In ‘Larger SSI, Social Security Payments On The Way’ it is touted that regarding Social Security and SSI (Supplemental Security Income) payments will increase thusly:
…’With the new year, benefits are up 8.7%, according to the Social Security Administration. That’s the biggest increase since 1981.’…
An increase of 8.7% in what they are receiving probably sounds great to most people. Unfortunately, it sounds good only against a sounding board of propagandists that tell you to your face that inflation is only 6.5% when in reality is is virtually five times higher (32%)!
Since the government is the one who has to pay out the money of the entitlement programs, it is in their interest to keep any price increases to a minimum, if they can help it. Since all the major entitlement programs are tied to the CPI it is imperative that the ‘ministry of truth’ only tell you the story they want you to hear.
If the Party (oops! I mean the BLS, No! I mean the Labor Department, Oh! I mean the Federal Reserve…) actually told the people the truth, they would have a revolt on their hands. When the prices that truly impact the average person increases at four times the rate of the increase in their entitlement, there is no way the average household that depends on that stipend can keep up.
Just looking at two of the entitlement programs, there are roughly 70 million Social Security recipients and 41 million SNAP benefit recipients. Even if 1/4 of the Social Security recipients also receive SNAP, that is just about one third of the population of the U.S. That is a lot of people that the storytellers in Washington have to tell a bedtime story to to make sure that they go to sleep. The ‘Authoritative Aesop’ has to make sure that they don’t wake up to the fact that they are really being robbed by inflation and their paymaster is shorting them on the supposed increase in their paycheck.
Of course, the average hardworking American as well is being mind controlled into thinking that inflation is only 6.5%. If Jolene and Joe Six Pack believe that inflation is 6.5% then they wouldn’t dare ask for a 32% raise just so they wouldn’t fall behind now would they? That would seem ludicrous!
The reports from the Labor Department that run across our news headlines are manipulated works of fiction that I imagine, Steven King would be proud of. These imaginary works are spun to placate the masses in the same way that the Romans used ‘bread and circus’ to pacify the hoi polloi of their empire. In modern day America, this debasement of life through the manipulation of monetary valuations is an important street sign to identify that this previously sovereign union is at the end of the road.
BLS does the Inflation Stats, not BLM.
The Sheep think inflation is 6.5 % due to Government and Media gaslighting yet gasoline, heating oil, electricity and food prices among other essential things are through the roof. There is a disconnect which Americans need to wake up to on this price inflation issue. Get the Freedom Caucus raising hell. Life is becoming unaffordable for the majority of Americans.
I am wondering if Martin has fully included the Eggflation. This has to be way over 100 %.